“How the Christian nationalist movement’s well-funded strategists are aiming at voters in Virginia and beyond for 2024.” newrepublic.com/article/164842…
“There are of many overlapping explanations for the recent transformation of US political life.

But the one that remains underappreciated in the moment is the role of Christian nationalist movement in establishing necessary preconditions for the kind of coup that Trump attempted
“The essential precondition—more important than money, more important than media, more important even than willing liars in high public office—is the existence of a substantial base of supporters primed to embrace a big lie.”
“Without leaders’ coordinated efforts to indoctrinate such a base, no lie can take hold.

To create such a base, four key steps are necessary.”
“Step 1 is to build an information bubble within which the base may be maintained in a state of fact-denial.

Organizations like Faith Wins aim at pastors because they know that, for their target voters, pastors and religious communities are often the most trusted sources of info
“Step 2 is that this base must be conditioned to expect an imminent, cataclysmic event that will threaten everything it values.

The apocalypticism and the persecution complex of the movement are perfectly suited to the task.”
“A 3rd step is to transfer the perceived source of political legitimacy from democratic processes like elections to “higher” authorities that allegedly represent the “true” spirit of the nation.”
“This of course is the device through which a minority of the country can come to believe that it has a providential role in ruling the whole.

As Bannon said at a rally in support of Young­kin, “We’re putting together a coalition that’s gonna govern for 100 years.”
“final step is to do what Trump did starting in 2019: undermine at every opportunity public confidence in the results of next election.

Coup attempt began on national tv during 1st pres debate, when Trump made clear that he would not accept the results of the election if he lost

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More from @torrHL

14 Jan
“Bronx building fire:

Twin Parks was once an icon of affordable housing.

What went wrong?” slate.com/business/2022/…
“the question is how the smoke from a third-floor apartment fire managed to fill the entire building within minutes.

Fire Commissioner said the apartment where the fire started had a door that didn’t close on its own, allowing smoke to quickly fill the building’s corridors…”
“The ownership group said the building did have self-closing doors, which are required by the city fire code.

The Philadelphia row house and the Bronx tower are linked by history as well.”
Read 21 tweets
14 Jan
“A Bronx Community Bloomed After One Housing Crisis. Can It Survive Another?

In 1980s, a govt program helped Black families buy new homes amid fires and flight.

Now that generation is moving south, as the neighborhood faces a new threat: affordability.” newrepublic.com/article/164915…
“Washington has been a key figure on the block since she arrived, part of a cohort that bought low-cost homes through a city program in 1980s.

She is one of 3 homeowners in a single row—all Black women, seniors now—who’ve sold their homes this year and are leaving for the South”
“Their reasons are prosaic:

grandchildren,
the lure of mild winters,
wariness about rising crime,
lessons drawn from Covid-19 about the need to be close to family—but the fact of their departure notes the end of a season in the Bronx.”
Read 15 tweets
14 Jan
“Democrats try to run on bringing the country together and working toward shared bipartisan goals, as @JoeBiden has professed on so many occasions.

That’s the kind of pap that the mostly apolitical people in the middle want to hear from Democrats.” newrepublic.com/article/164970…
“So that’s the maddening paradox:

The people who need to be awakened to the Republican threat to democracy are the people who would rather not hear those kinds of discouraging words.”
“By and large, these are voters who may be cynical about politics but not about themselves or their place in America.

And they’re mostly pretty unsophisticated about politics, even though they think the opposite about themselves.”
Read 6 tweets
14 Jan
“One player was called a “Black b----” during the third quarter of the game at Russell O. Brackman Middle School while a second was told she was “homeless” on multiple occasions because she wasn’t wearing basketball sneakers.” nj.com/ocean/2022/01/…
“It’s reprehensible,” said Inzelbuch in phone interview.

“The fact that it was players and not fans makes it even worse. As reprehensible as (the racial comment) is, the other comment bothers me equally because a lot of these kids can’t afford certain things.”
“Barnegat Superintendent Brian Latwis said the comments should have been brought to the attention of the referees and coaches during the game “so they could be addressed immediately” and not by Lakewood first issuing a statement to the media.”
Read 4 tweets
14 Jan
“Unemployment is low, wages are rising and the stock market is healthy.

But as long as prices rise, ⁦@JoeBiden⁩ could pay a political price in November’s midterm elections, which will determine control of both houses of Congress.” washingtonpost.com/politics/democ…
“Fifty-four percent of Americans think the nation’s economy is getting worse, according to a Quinnipiac University survey released Wednesday, and many are blaming Biden.

Some 57% said they disapproved of Biden’s handling of the economy, while only 34 percent said they approved”
“Lake pointed to aspects of Biden’s signature #BuildBackBetter agenda that are popular with voters and would help bring down inflation — such as lowering the cost of child care, prescription drugs and elder care — but that legislation is stuck in the Senate amid resistance…”
Read 6 tweets
13 Jan
“How Plastic Liberated and Entombed Us -

An account of the wonder substance that has become our tarbaby.” commonreader.wustl.edu/c/how-plastic-…
“The revolution had begun with a billiard ball.

In 1868, ivory was scarce (too few elephants left to kill), so a desperate New England company offered a $10,000 prize for a suitable substitute.”
“The British had patented Celluloid, a hard, flexible, transparent material no one yet wanted (though it would later give us Hollywood).

A young New Yorker acquired the rights and used Celluloid to make billiard balls.”
Read 18 tweets

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